Next week Tuesday, August 26 and Thursday, August 28 are the dates when folks will gather at Ivy Creek around 6:30 p.m. in hopes of seeing migrating flocks of nighthawks on their way to South America. Although nighthawks breed throughout North America, nesting on bare ground and often on the graveled roof-tops of buildings, they don’t seem to be too common around here. Their relatives, the whip-poor-will and chuck-will’s-widow, are more frequently found, although usually heard rather than seen. Unlike chucks and whip-poor-wills that flush insects off forest vegetation, nighthawks feed on aerial insects which they pluck out of the sky. Indeed, they feed while migrating. As an added attraction while you’re looking up for nighthawks, look across the north grassland. The big bluestem is dense and seven or even eight feet tall this year.
